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World Headlines; Puerto Rico Cleanup; Catalonia's Call for Independence; Sexual Harassment Settlement; Army Widow Speaks Out. Aired 8- 9a ET
Aired October 23, 2017 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[08:00:00] ANNA COREN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Anna Coren in Hong Kong. Welcome to News Stream.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COREN: The next battle field in the fight against ISIS after the militant group is driven of its self-declared capital, fighting rages in Deir ez-
Zor.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is set for a decisive victory in a snap election and said his immediate task is deal with North Korea. And trash
parts off in Puerto Rico raising fears of another health crisis.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COREN: We begin in Syria where U.S.-backed Kurdish and Arab forces say they have captured the country's largest oil field from ISIS. Well, it
comes just days after the terror group was driven out of Syria city of Raqqa, its de facto capital for more than three years.
The oil field located at Deir ez-Zor is the country's largest oil facility. It once produced 75,000 barrels per day. And it's now the next
battleground in the war against ISIS where U.S. and Russian-backed forces are being pounding the Syrian city with dozens of Jihadist fighters to hold
up in a small pocket of the town. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This may be where ISIS Leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, is hiding but probably wishes he wasn't. Russian and
Syrian regime air strikes pound ISIS' remnants in the city of Deir Ez-Zor.
But they aren't alone in the skies or in the ground here. Banking hard and keeping out of the Russians' way are U.S. jets, assisting these U.S.-backed
Kurdish fighters to take the nearby countryside from ISIS just the day before. ISIS are collapsing and leaving in their wake an almost cold war
standoff.
ISIS may be holding out in a pocket of a town of Deir ez-Zor behind me, over there surrounded by the Syrian regime. But they've been kicked out,
too, of this area by American-backed Kurdish SDF forces.
Now they've advanced to this river here which puts them literally meters away from the Syrian regime who are backed by Russian air power.
We're told, in fact, these Kurdish-American-backed forces have held face- to-face meetings with Russian military officials to be sure they don't clash around here. Now in the end game against ISIS, Moscow and
Washington's forces literally meters away from each other.
The Kurds are so relaxed with their new neighbors that fishing is this afternoon's task, with hand grenades. Five years in, and Syria is ground
to dust. And this is what they're still fighting over. It's unclear who is left inside Deir ez-Zor. But those who fled, estimated recently at
10,000 a day, dot the skyline.
They try to filter them, but last week a suicide bomber struck. And yesterday, they found 30 ISIS fighters. They're followed around by the
horror of what they fled, but also by suspicion. The simple question, are the last to flee the most loyal to ISIS or just the least fortunate?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): We saw everything in my village, she says. Air strikes, children and elderly dying, my relative just last
week. The children couldn't stop crying from fear. I could only stand there. What could I do? I don't know if our home is still standing or
even who is bombing us.
WALSH: Yusuf (ph) is 10 and doesn't have any superhero powers here, just dust and bad dreams.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): When I would hear the shelling, he says, I would hide in the ground. The hardest part about living in the
desert is we're not at home.
WALSH: The stream is endless, like the bombing they flee and this war which keeps finding new chapters and adversaries around them.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: Well, hear the latest now from Nick Walsh. He joins us from Dohuk in Iraq. Nick, it's hard to believe that after four long years, tens of
thousands of ISIS fighters countless dead and wide scale destruction has come down to this small pocket of fighting. But this is by no means the
end of ISIS.
WALSH: And certainly we already saw there in that report the beginnings of the next challenge.
[08:05:00] How do you tackle what has become the kind of Iraq target insurgency of people who we urge from those SDFs trying to filter the
displace from Deir ez-Zor who will have suicide belts on them, in their midst to launch spontaneous attacks.
And generally of course I think an enormous bloody headache for the SDF fighters in the Kurdish areas to the north of Syria to quite a period of
time to come. And the broader question to, Anna, as well is not just about ISIS. What will happens to the territories they used to hold and the
resources upon that territory.
And just as you mentioned earlier, in the last 48 to 72 hours or so, the SDF fighters -- I saw few actions, we leave earlier on, had in take the
Iraq oil field. And (Inaudible) a substantial production capability in its sort of glory days and now maybe substantially reduced.
But the SDF swept in and we heard about that. It's awesome frankly, you know, you're going to run in trouble in the Syrian regime about this.
(Inaudible) that is part of their own structure.
And the SDF, if you have lot of coalition air support says, we lost people driving ISIS out of there. We intend to hang on to it and this is the kind
of example really of the key parts of structure in those areas of ISIS to control now being contested between (Inaudible) there.
An American backed SDF force have been along with the fighting against ISIS in key areas and the Syrian regime and Russian fire power, and actually
Russia military advisors on the ground in their midst potentially clashing with each other. Anna.
COREN: Nick, what makes officials think that ISIS leader Abu Bakr al- Baghdadi is potentially hiding out there in Deir ez-Zor?
WALSH: There's no specific location for him, it's a maybe. Americans frankly say their best guess is somewhere along the Euphrates Bali in Deir
ez-Zor is one of their key urban environments in that stretch of land running down to Abu Kamal, down on the Iraqi border.
He could be hiding under the farmhouse frankly in the middle of nowhere on the ground where most like bin Laden did in plain site. That is one
possibility or it could be continuing to follow the remaining ISIS fighters back as they continue to get pushed back down the Euphrates Bali.
Abu Kamal is where a lot of Kurdish fire power has focused in the past weeks or so. But it is absolutely clear that it is unclear to the
coalition where al-Baghdadi is and while ISIS loses fighters like simply it has in Iraq and Syria.
He is still out there and as they turn into more of online as you ideology that been inspire the deranged to make attacks in the west. He is a figure
head remains to have some post. Anna.
COREN: Nick Paton Walsh, we certainly appreciate your reporting and joining us there live from Dohuk, Iraq. Well, Russia has slammed U.S.-led
bombing of Raqqa claiming this Syrian city has been wiped off the face of the earth.
Well, the Russia Defense Ministry is quoted as comparing it to the World War II allied bombing of Dresden. ISIS was driven out of Raqqa just days
ago and as Arwa Damon reports, the battle has left the city in rooms.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The distraction of Raqqa is so vast and devastating. It's heartbreaking and it's going to take at least three
months to four months before civilians can even begin to go back and try to take stock of what it is that they had actually physically lost because
that is how long it's going to take clear the city of the various explosives and mines.
The civilian population now by and large languishing in overcrowded refugee camps and among them, very little celebration at the liberation of their
city because of the price they had to pay for it. Everybody who we spoke to knows someone who has died, whether it's a relative, a loved one or a
friend.
And when it comes to the actual physical reconstruction of Raqqa, where is the civilian counsel even going to begin? If we take Kobani, that saw a
similar scale of destruction to Raqqa, well, only 50 percent of it has actually approximately been rebuilt. And the international donations that
were pledged, they never materialized.
People had to build their homes, if they could afford it, out of their savings. And additionally, just because ISIS has physically lost the
territory of its caliphate, as we keep hearing time and time again, that does not mean that ISIS as an ideology, as an entity capable of carrying
out attacks and drawing in even more recruits is necessarily over.
What we heard from a man from Bahrain who has been detained by the Kurdish forces is that ISIS already has a plan in place. He says they have the
finances. They have the means. They have the capability to morph and reemerge again. Arwa Damon, CNN, Kobani, Syria.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: A stern message from U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, it's time for Iranian-backed militia to exit Iraq. Well he made the remarks
during his trip to Saudi Arabia. Tillerson warned that both the U.S. and Saudi Arabia believe that those who conduct business with the Iranian
Revolutionary Guard do so at great risk.
[08:10:00] Well, saying in the region, they have been called to the Iraqi Kurdish leader to step down. Thousand took to the streets in protest. The
opposition blames him for the loss of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk and frustration is also directed at the United States, the country the Kurds
have seen as a close ally until now. Ben Wedeman has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And demonstration in front of the western diplomatic mission has been one of the million in Belize (ph) but in the
Kurdish-Iraqi capital of Erbil, it's the first.
Almost 15 years I've been covering events in the Iraqi-Kurdistan, this is the first for me, an anti-American demonstration. Now it's not necessarily
an expression of anger as much as it is disappointment that the Kurds have been let down by a country they thought was their friend.
Kurdish forces played a critical role in the war against ISIS but since the Kurds voted for independence from Iraq last month and since the central
government takeover of the disputed oil-rich province of Kirkuk last Monday, suddenly the Kurds are once again, alone.
Facing the combination of Iraqi government forces are been by the states and the Iranian-backed popular mobilization units. The irony is lost here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why we have been attack by the American weapons and it has of Shia militia, support of Iraq.
WEDEMAN: The American Consulate was never in danger, well protected as it was by Kurdish riot police. The protest was peaceful but the words were
heating especially when talk turn to U.S. president Donald Trump.
During the campaign, pledge his support for the Kurds but now, the U.S. stands neutral in the clash between Baghdad and Erbil. Trump lied to the
Kurdish people says (Inaudible), an engineer. America lied to the Kurdish people.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have hopes and dreams but now, we don't know what happened.
WEDEMAN: What happened was realpolitik, the government in Baghdad and in the Middle East to prove the vote for Kurdish independence. Noisy though
it was the protest may be falling on. Ben Wedeman, CNN, Erbil, Northern Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: We are now hearing for the first time from the widow of a U.S. Army soldier who was killed in Niger and what happened during the condolence
call she received from President Trump. In an interview with ABC, Myeshia Johnson backed up what a U.S. congresswoman has been saying about that
phone call.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MYESHIA JOHNSON, WIDOW OF SARGEANT LA DAVID JOHNSON: Yes, the president, saying that he knew what he signed up for. It really hurts anyways. And I
was -- it made cry because I was very angry at the tone of his voice and how he say it. He couldn't remember my husband's name.
The only way he remember my husband's name because he told he had my husband's report in front of him, and that's why he actually say La David.
I heard him stumbling when trying to remember my husband's name.
And that's what hurt even most because if my husband is out here fighter for our country, and he risk his life for our country, why can't you
remember his name. And that will make me cry even more because husband was an awesome soldier.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: Myeshia Johnson speaking there a short time ago. Well, our Joe Johns is at the White House with the very latest. And Joe, this is going
to be very embarrassing for the -- the president and sure it's tough.
JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's tough and we have already reached out to the White House this morning because quite frankly, Anna, it was the
president who described the congresswoman who first related that conversation as wacky and a liar.
And of course, the question this morning is now that we have heard from the widow whether the president would use those same kinds of terms also to
describe her.
The growing questions about this ambush and the larger role of the United States in Niger, Congress here is set to hear its first hearing on the
issue as the controversy continues over the president's condolence call.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The call was a very nice call. I was so nice.
JOHNS: President Trump refusing to back down about the nature of his condolence call with the widow of Sergeant La David Johnson. Keeping up
his attacks on Congresswoman Frederica Wilson, following her criticism of the call, again calling her wacky.
[08:15:00] Wilson firing back.
REP. FREDERICA WILSON (D), FLORIDA: I'm sick of him giving people nicknames. He doesn't want me to give him a nickname.
JOHNS: Wilson attempting to shift the focus back onto the investigation into the ambush in Niger that killed Johnson and three other soldiers.
WILSON: I want people to understand what is actually happening in Africa. This is going to be Trump's Benghazi, Trump's Niger.
JOHNS: Trump launching his latest attacks on Wilson from his Virginia golf club. The congresswoman joined the Johnson family in laying Sergeant
Johnson to rest on Saturday. In a new interview, President Trump describes his chief of staff's reaction to the congresswoman's rebuke.
TRUMP: He was so offended that a woman would be -- that somebody would be listening to that call. He was -- he actually couldn't believe it.
Actually, he said to me, sir, this is not acceptable.
JOHNS: Wilson has said she overheard the call because it was on speaker phone when she was riding with the family to receive Johnson's casket. The
congresswoman has known the Johnson family for decades.
The women of the Congressional Black Caucus now calling on General Kelly to apologize for falsely claiming Wilson bragged about securing funding for an
FBI building in 2015.
RET. GEN. JOHN KELLY, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Even for someone that is that empty a barrel, we were stunned.
JOHNS: Wilson's colleagues calling Kelly's comments reprehensible and blatant lies.
WILSON: Not only does he owe me an apology, but he owes an apology to the American people, because when he lied on me, he lied to them. And I don't
think that's fair.
JOHNS: The backlash coming after White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders cautioned reporters against questioning Kelly's remarks.
SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: If you want to get into a debate with a four-star Marine general, I think that that's
something highly inappropriate.
JOHNS: The Niger attack leading lawmakers to question the U.S. military's involvement in the African nation.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: I didn't know there was 1,000 troops in Niger. You've got to tell us more.
JOHNS: Amid the controversies, Senator John McCain mocking President Trump for avoiding the draft during the Vietnam War, obtaining five deferments,
including one for medical reasons.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: We drafted the lowest income level of America, and the highest income level found a doctor that would say that
they had a bone spur.
JOHNS: The pointed attack coming after the president called into question McCain's status as a war hero during the campaign.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHNS: And there will be more focused today on the United States military s the president towards the Congressional Medal of Honor to Vietnam veteran
who is credited with saving the lives of 60 wounded personnel during four days of intense fighting in 1970.
We will get an opportunity to see the president a couple of times today here at the White House as the prime minister of Singapore is visiting,
perhaps an opportunity to get a question to Mr. Trump. Anna.
COREN: Yes, interesting to see if he responds to those comments made by the widow. Joe Johns, good to see you. Many thanks for that. It looks
like Shinzo Abe's gamble has paid off. The Japanese prime minister winning big in a snap election over the weekend. Pus, North Korea finds a market
for its export. Coming up, we'll take you inside Namibia
[08:20:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COREN: Welcome back to News Stream live from Hong Kong. Japan's prime minister is promising to take a first stand on North Korea after his ruling
coalition cruise to a landslide victory in Sunday's parliamentary election.
An official says, Shinzo Abe and U.S. President Trump spoke on Sunday, agreeing on a need to step up pressure on Pyongyang. Kaori Enjoji has more
from Tokyo.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KAORI ENJOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A big win for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in national elections on Sunday and after winning a two thirds
supermajority in the House of Representatives, the prime minister said one of his top priorities will remain North Korea.
SHINZO ABE, JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER (through translator): An aging society, a tense situation with North Korea. These are some of the
national issues we face site and I will do my utmost to lead this country as its prime minister.
ENJOJI: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been in office for nearly 5 years now and the strong victory in the election on Sunday virtually guarantees
that his party will keep him on as leader of the party which means that the prime minister could stay in office until the year 2021.
That's nearly 9 years in office and no other prime minister has served that long in Japanese postwar history. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has developed
a rapport with the U.S. President Donald Trump at a time when many other world leaders have struggled.
And I think he is trying to drive home to the electorate here that this kind of continuity that Japan needs in order to deal with some threats that
Japan faces right now.
He also said that he will be addressing other issues that have dogged the government in recent years particularly the economy, the rising debt
situation and also the following birthrate.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has long had an ambition to reinterpret the Constitution, to give a stronger role to the Self-Defense Forces, the SDF
to legitimize it and a stronger role to Japan's military.
This will not go down well with some of its neighbors like South Korea and China, and so it's going to be a delicate balance for him going forward if
you does indeed want to rewrite the Constitution especially when they need their help to pacify North Korea. That's the latest on the situation in
Japan, I'm Kaori Enjoji.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: The U.S. defense secretary is traveling across Asia this week speaking with reporters on his way to the Philippines. James Mattis
emphasized diplomacy as a way to de-escalate the North Korea crisis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES MATTIS, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: We'll be talking about how we reinforce the diplomatic efforts to resolve this campaign to try to return
at the militarize Korean Peninsula and also how we're going to maintain peace by keeping on military towards our diplomats Japanese, South Korean
and U.S. worked with the nations to be denuclearize the Korean Peninsula.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COREN: Well, Mattis' trip comes just a few weeks before Donald Trump makes his first official visit to Asia and as the U.S. president gets ready for
that, he discussed North Korea and its nuclear program in an interview on Sunday where Mr. Trump said he believes China is being helpful in a
standoff with the north. But he boasted that in any case, the U.S. is well prepared.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: They have been helping. They are closing off their banking systems to North Korea. They had cut the oil way down but 93 percent of the things
going into North Korea come through China. China is big stuff.
I believe he's got -- he's got the power to do something very significant with respect to North Korea. We'll see what happens. No, with that being
said, we're prepared for anything. We are so prepared like you wouldn't believe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COREN: For years, these international community is trying to contain North Korea by cutting its source of income. But U.N. investigators say some of
Pyongyang's most lucrative trade is in Africa. David McKenzie reports, Namibia has been a major customer of North Korean products ranging from
military equipment to giant statutes.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[08:25:00] DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A quick drive away from its picturesque downtown, behind this high-walled warehouse, Namibia's sleepy
capital holds a secret. When did the North Koreans leave?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe -- let me say maybe two weeks or three weeks.
MCKENZIE: Two weeks ago, they left?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
MCKENZIE: And who was operating there, the North Koreans?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
MCKENZIE: Just weeks ago, the eyewitnesses, North Koreans living and working in this sprawling compound in clear violation of U.N. sanctions.
They grew their own food, move in and out with trucks, then they vanished. But the building's title deed still shows it's a headquarters of North
Korean State Company, Mansudae.
CNN's multiple attempts to reach Mansudae and North Korean authorities were unsuccessful. As sanctions have squeezed, the North Korean regime searched
globally for foreign cash to fund its elicit nuclear and missile program.
And across Africa, they found willing partners and historic allies. In Namibia's capital alone, the national museum and statue of founding
President (Inaudible) commemorating independence even the recently finished Presidential Palace, all built by the North Korean state in their trademark
totalitarian style. But the contracts aren't just artistic.
Outside the capital, it's just scrubland, you'd never know what you were looking for. Inside this Nimibian military base, U.N. investigators say
that there's a North Korean ammunitions factory. A violation of sanctions in place for nearly a decade and a sensitive topic for a major recipient of
American aid.
NETUMBO NANDI-NDAITWAH, NAMIBIAN DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: Starting last year, we have start sending them out.
MCKENZIE: The Deputy Prime Minister says their relationship is now over, that they have given regular reports to the U.N. investigation team.
NANDI-NDAITWAH: The activities that have been taking place in Namibia in which the Koreans have been involved could not really be considered to be
generating such a heavy amount of money to fuel the nuclear development in North Korea.
MCKENZIE: But the lead U.N. investigator disagrees. He says they haven't received those reports for more than a year. Is this money insignificant
for North Korea?
HUGH GRIFFITHS, COORDINATOR, U.N. PANEL OF EXPERTS: This money is highly significant. We're looking at least 14 African member states where
Mansudae alone was running quite large construction operations, building everything from ammunition factories to presidential palaces to apartment
blocks.
MCKENZIE: The panel is investigating scores of African countries for their contracts with North Korea's Mansudae and its military. Has Namibia been
cleared by the U.N. panel?
GRIFFITHS: No, it's not being cleared by the U.N. panel. It's not enough to say you've been exonerated by the U.N. for North Korean sanctions
violations because that's not true. The panel deals with hard facts with evidence, and this is what we've been asking for Namibia for many months
now.
MCKENZIE: In Namibia, the pressure seems to be having an effect. The North Korean building site of the new Defense Ministry has ground to a halt
for now. Its dealings with North Korea have become a thorny issue. David McKenzie, CNN, Windhoek, Namibia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: Puerto Rico is still struggling to get electricity restored. It now faces another challenge, disease from the garbage that has piled after
hurricane Maria.
[08:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Anna Coren in Hong Kong. You're watching "News Stream." These are your world headlines.
Japan's prime minister has won a decisive victory on Sunday's snap election. Shinzo Abe says his ruling coalition won more than two-third of
seats in the lower house of parliament. He's pledging to take a firm stance on North Korea. Officials say Abe and President Trump spoke by phone Sunday
night and agreed on the need to step up pressure on Pyongyang.
U.S.-backed Arab and Kurdish forces say they have captured Syria's largest oil field from ISIS. It's the latest from the series of setbacks to the
terror group. The oil field located at Deir ez-Zor once produced 75,000 barrels per day.
There are calls for the Iraqi Kurdish leader to step down. Opposition blames him for the lost of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk. Frustration is also
being directed at the United States, a country the Kurds seen until now as a close ally.
Cleanup is finally underway in Puerto Rico weeks after Hurricane Maria destroyed everything in its path. Furniture and appliances are piling up on
sidewalks, along with (INAUDIBLE) that raised serious health concerns. Journalist (ph) Polo Sandoval reports there is more to worry about after
the garbage hits the landfill.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This (INAUDIBLE) is music to Charlie Dominguez's ears.
CHARLIE DOMINGUEZ, RESIDENT OF TOA BAJA: Yes, they arrived.
(LAUGHTER)
SANDOVAL (voice-over): He's literally been counting the days, waiting for cleanup crews to reach this town of Toa Baja, Puerto Rico.
DOMINGUEZ: Counting the calendar, I've been checking everyday, 34 days.
SANDOVAL (voice-over): All over this U.S. territory, piles of debris sit on sidewalks weeks after Maria, says 76-year-old Louie Acosta (ph). This
rodent-infested, mosquito breeding ground, a reminder of both the pieces of home that were lost and all that needs to be addressed before his community
can rebuild.
LOUIE ACOSTA (ph), RESIDENT OF TOA BAJA: Just looking at it, I get sick.
SANDOVAL (voice-over): Seeing his and the rest of the neighbors belongings rotting in the sand is taking a toll.
ACOSTA (ph): In a month, you're surrounded by trash, so it's not easy to see that.
SANDOVAL (voice-over): Though the trash is being trucked away, another health crisis could be looming.
JUAN ROSARIO, ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVIST: We were in a huge mess before Maria, and now the mess has become really a crisis.
SANDOVAL (voice-over): Juan Rosario, known all over the island as a prominent environmental activist, worries there is little to no room left
in Puerto Rico's landfills for Maria's debris.
A year before Maria, Puerto Rican government agreed to close 12 of the island's 29 landfills because they were beyond capacity based on EPA
findings. The problem goes beyond where to put Maria's mess. It's also what's in it. For years, EPA has been concerned about dangerous substances
from the island's landfills seeping into the soil, potentially contaminating groundwater.
ROSARIO: This is a disaster. This is (INAUDIBLE) in the making in the sense that we are going to pay for this not necessarily now but after.
SANDOVAL (voice-over): Rosario worries more pollutants could be coming in a rush to cleanup his island.
Polo Sandoval, CNN, Toa Baja, Puerto Rico.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: Let's go now to Spain where the Catalan parliament will meet on Thursday to decide its response to Madrid. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano
Rajoy outlined his plan to suspend Catalonia's autonomy following the region's threat to declare independence. Nearly half a million pro-
independence protesters marched in Barcelona over the weekend, but not everyone in Catalonia wants to leave Spain as Erin McLaughlin found out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Nestled between the foothills of the Catalan mountain and a motorway north of
Barcelona,
[08:35:00] Badia del Valles, a working class Catalan town and a stronghold for Spain. Residents here are adamant they don't want independence.
At a local church, prayers that things stay the way they are, and Catalonia remains a part of Spain. Some here say with the Spanish prime minister's
new emergency measures to sack the Catalan government and call elections within six months, their prayers have been answered.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): They're not going to take our autonomy from us. They'll just take those who are not capable away. And in
six months, they'll fix things, the sooner the better.
MCLAUGHLIN (voice-over): Badia del Valles was founded in 1975, a few months before the fascist dictator General Francisco Franco died. Spain developed
it as a social project meant to be home to the area's migrant workforce. People moved here hoping for a better life.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): The most important thing for me is security, a good economy, to live like we did before. Now everything is
falling apart.
MCLAUGHLIN (voice-over): But not everyone here feels this way.
(on camera): Even in the most pro-Spain town of Catalonia, there are those who say they feel Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has crossed the line.
(voice-over): Marcos Real (ph) owned a cafe off the main square. He's outraged at the way Rajoy is handling things. After the crackdown on the
October first referendum, he closed his business to protest the violence. He tells me Catalans was humiliated.
(on camera): How do you feel about Prime Minister Rajoy moving to take direct control of Catalonia?
MARCOS REAL (ph), RESIDENT OF CATALONIA (through translator): If I can, I'll vote. And if they don't allow me to vote, I'll do it by force as they
did it on October the first. This is a democratic system, and what President Rajoy is doing is keeping the law. So, this is a fascist state as
it was 35 years ago.
MCLAUGHLIN (voice-over): So much emotion in this tiny town. Residents worry they have a lot to lose.
Erin McLaughlin, CNN, Badia del Valles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: Early this year, Fox News (INAUDIBLE) Bill O'Reilly of the allegations of sexual harassment. Now, a New York Times report is
reigniting outrage of the news network and its former (INAUDIBLE).
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COREN: After the Harvey Weinstein scandal rocked Hollywood, this renewed attention on the issue of sexual harassment and abuse in the workplace.
Over the weekend, The New York Times reported former Fox host Bill O'Reilly paid a massive $32 million to a Fox News colleague to settle her sexual
misconduct allegations.
O'Reilly isn't the only one coming under fire. Brian Stelter lays out the story for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: This is a story about money and power involving Bill O'Reilly and a long-time legal analyst of Fox News
named Lis Wiehl. She was a regular on O'Reilly's program, "The O'Reilly Factor," until the end of last year. And that's where this story gets
really complicated.
So in January of this year, Lis Wiehl went to O'Reilly and threatened the sexual harassment lawsuit. O'Reilly settled out of court. He agreed to pay
her $32 million. A few weeks later, Fox News renewed his contract for an incredible $25 million a year.
[08:40:00] Now, the next part of the story, you probably already heard about, it's when Bill O'Reilly was fired by Fox New in the midst of a
sexual harassment scandal. This happened in April after The New York Times reported on other secret settlements that O'Reilly had reached (ph) with
accuser. There was an advertiser boycott and by the end of April, O'Reilly was out of the job.
But now, he has been mounting to comeback. He has been trying to find another TV channel that will hire him. And that's why this new New York
Times story landed with such a thud (ph). According to The New York Times, Lis Wiehl is alleging harassment and a nonconsensual sexual relationship
with O'Reilly.
We don't know exactly what she says happened, because has now sworn to secrecy. But The New York Times obtained details of the settlement and
published them over the weekend. Now, O'Reilly says he has never mistreated anyone. He says this is bogus and he is to respond on Monday.
But The New York Times story was a shock to the TV world. I spoke with former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson who of course sued Roger Ailes, the
head of Fox News, last year. She received $20 million herself. She told me she was shocked to read this new New York Times story about O'Reilly. She
was also disturbed that Fox brought him back on the air last month with Sean Hannity. Here's what she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRETCHEN CARLSON, TELEVISION COMMENTATOR: Brian, I think it's horrifying and outrageous that any company after dismissing somebody for allegations
such as that would not only resign a contract but allow that person to come back on the air. It's outrageous. It's one of the reasons that I want to
make sure that I chronicled so many other women stories in my book because now we are on the movement.
We are on a movement to speak up and be heard. And there's no turning back for women in the workplace. Why should women have the American dream taken
away from them? We work just as hard as anyone else. And it's time that it stops.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STELTER: Gretchen Carlson says she is really inspired by all the women that have come forward against Harvey Weinstein. As a result of the Weinstein
scandal, come forward against other men who have harassed then in the workplace. But this Bill O'Reilly story is a reminder about the power of
ratings, the power of million dollar contracts.
Fox renewed O'Reilly's contract and wanted him to stay on the air until it was impossible for him to remain. The idea that he had this $32 million
settlement was just the cost, the price of doing business for Fox News. Now, it's been exposed by the sunlight and it embarrassed both Fox and
O'Reilly. But it created this educational moment about how money and power work in relationship to sexual harassment charges.
Brian Stelter, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: We are updating you a story that we brought a few minutes ago. We heard for the first time from the widow of a U.S. army soldier who was
killed in Niger and what happened during the condolence call that she received from President Trump.
In an interview with ABC, Myeshia Johnson backed up what the U.S. congresswoman has been saying about that phone call the President Trump
said her husband knew what he was getting into, and that's what she found so upsetting, and makes Trump seems to not know her husband's name, La
David Johnson, at least at the start of the call.
A few moments ago, the president responded on Twitter saying I had a very respectful conversation with the widow of Sergeant La David Johnson and
spoke his name from beginning without hesitation. We will have more on the story throughout the day.
That is "News Stream." Thank you so much for your company. I'm Anna Coren. Don't go anywhere. "World Sport" with Christina Macfarlane is coming up
next.
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[08:45:00] (WORLD SPORT)
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